Cardinal Mahony Urges Health Insurance for All

LOS ANGELES – California faces a tough uphill battle to reform its health care delivery system, but the growing need and the mounting pressure to address the issue may sway the Legislature and the voters to act, said panelists at a recent gathering on health care.

“We simply cannot tolerate the injustice that leaves millions of our fellow sisters and brothers without the means to pay for health care – many, for all their life, and most for some part of their lives,” said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony during the 13th annual public policy breakfast held at Shriners Hospital for Children in Los Angeles.

“The uninsured receive too little medical service and receive it too late, and receive poorer care when they are in hospitals,” he added.

“And so we cannot tolerate the injustice of profit over people.”

More than six million Californians do not have health insurance.

“As a people of faith, we believe that the life of every human being created in the image of God is uniquely precious and worthy of being safeguarded,” said Cardinal Mahony.

Good News Outweighs Bad About U.S. Catholics

WASHINGTON – The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate honored sociologist James D. Davidson of Purdue University in Indiana and Msgr. Francis J. Maniscalco, former U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesman, for their contributions to church research.

In a talk before CARA’s annual awards dinner Oct. 3 at Georgetown University in Washington, Davidson said there is much more good news than bad about U.S. Catholics.

The picture that emerges from his 40 years of social research on religion in America shows a Catholic laity that for the most part is involved in the Church, knows and affirms its core teachings, is highly educated and is sophisticated in relating faith to public life, he said.

Msgr. Maniscalco, a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, was USCCB director of media relations from 1993 to 1994 and secretary of communications from 1994 to 2006.

In remarks during the dinner he quoted from the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living. I think that is true of communities as well,” he said.

He praised CARA and others who engage in social research on the church for helping it to live an examined life.

Recognition of Natural Law Promotes Human Dignity

VATICAN CITY – The foundation of human rights, democracy, and cooperation among peoples and religions is threatened by a growing assumption that there are no ethical absolutes, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Not recognizing that certain ethical and moral principles are naturally part of being human has “enormous and serious consequences on the civil and social order,” Pope Benedict said in a meeting with members of the International Theological Commission.

Commission members, appointed by the Vatican, have been working on a document on the foundations of natural moral law and, specifically, on how those principles form the basis of a “universal ethic” that can be recognized and shared by all peoples of all religions.

“It is not an exclusively or predominantly confessional theme,” the pope said, but is one that is important for all people and for their ability to live together in peace and mutual respect.

Pope Benedict said the commission’s report is an important part of a project being promoted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to encourage universities, associations and individual scholars “to identify useful lines and convergences for a constructive and effective deepening of the doctrine on natural law.”

Australian Bishops Warn Against Pre-Emptive Strike

PERTH, Australia – The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference said it did not believe the war in Iraq is justified and warned against participating in another pre-emptive strike with the United States.

While admitting that Australia’s alliance with the U.S. is an “important element of Australia’s international security arrangements,” the bishops questioned whether the doctrine of pre-emption was consistent with Catholic teaching on just war.

The bishops stressed that war cannot be judged only by its consequences.

They said Australians “would fail in our duty ... if we were again to take military action without our own thorough assessment of its morality and prospects, and without broad international approval.”

The bishops said, “Obligations to an ally cannot include an obligation to engage in war that is not justified.”

In a statement titled “Who Is My Neighbor? Australia’s Role as a Global Citizen,” the bishops raised concerns about actions taken without broad international support and a mandate from the United Nations.

Colombian Bishops Oppose Euthanasia Proposal

BOGOTA, Colombia – The Colombian bishops’ conference said it opposes proposed legislation that would regulate euthanasia.

“Life must be respected from beginning to end,” said retired Bishop Fabian Marulanda Lopez of Florencia, secretary-general of the Colombian bishops.

The bishops’ conference said in a press release that “pain and suffering are an integral part of one’s existence” and that one must “accept that and live it as a fundamental value.”

Colombia’s high court removed penalties for euthanasia in 1997. Since then, some doctors have performed euthanasia, generally without attracting public attention. No rules or regulations currently control how or when euthanasia can be carried out.

The proposed legislation would regulate the practice, permitting doctors to euthanize terminally ill patients on medical support who suffer from intense pain or extreme dependency.